#MyWANA

*someone comes by and pats me on the shoulder*

Yes, I know everything will be fine. I’m not crying though, I promise!

#MyWANA is a Twitter hashtag that I saw flutter by on the Twitter-sphere today. It was started the other day by @KristenLambTX with this post on her blog. Go take some time to read it, as she explains it much better than I will.

So MyWANA is a place for writers to gather and encourage each other on, with the idea that through the hashtag, a community for discussion is formed. My is the possessive my. That is MY book, not yours. The rest stands for: We Are Not Alone,

The process of writing is a very lonely process. Ideally, there is no distraction, which means there aren’t others around that you are talking with. So, most writers aren’t around other people. So if we want to communicate with others, and there is no-one around, that makes it hard. That is why the internet is so useful, specifically Twitter. You can go on, search for the hash tag, and now you can communicate with others in (semi) real time.

Now, I know there are other hash tags for writers: #amwriting are #writing are two that I know and use sometimes. So, I don’t know what the difference is with these and #MyWANA, other than the name. In any case, there is a community forming there. Hopefully you’ll find me there sometimes.

And if you want a quick link, here you go!

Authors Acting Badly

A review of a book came across the Twitter-sphere today. That in itself isn’t remarkable. What is remarkable is the response of the author of the book.

The short version is that the reviewer said he liked the story, but that it had grammatical errors. The author took this the wrong way, and ended up giving the reviewer a piece of her mind. She claimed that he had the wrong version (it appears he didn’t) and more. When it came down to it, though, she insulted the reviewer and the other commenters. She demanded that the review be taken down, as well as told commenters to… well… “Go Away” in not so nice terms.

I feel sorry for this lady. In one day, she has managed to destroy her reputation. This whole fiasco went viral on Twitter. She won’t have much luck in the future. And in truth, the real troll in the whole thread of comments was her. There were some others (as you will get when something like this happens), but the majority were people telling her to be quiet for her own good. She should have listened to the criticisms. They are given for a reason. As the reviewer said, the story was good. It was the grammar that made it hard to read.

So, to my family and friends, please destroy my pens, paper, computers and whatever else if I ever do that. It is not professional, nor useful in the long run.